Hastings Cent Rep. 2019 Jan;49(1):3. doi: 10.1002/hast.968.
It is often pointed out that one cannot be "a little bit pregnant," but pregnancy's borders are no longer so crisp. At Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, scientists have created an artificial womb in which "extremely premature" lambs were nurtured for four weeks, enough to make them ready to meet the world. The goal is to advance this technology until it is available for very premature human infants. At present, we put preemies into neonatal intensive care units, which are extremely stressful for the babies and their families, and the things we do to try to support them often cause serious damage. If successful, the artificial womb could be a terrific technology. The implications are remarkable. Would humans become somewhat like marsupials? Now, one is either born or not. Would this technology create a new, intermediate stage? What would this mean ethically and legally?
人们常说，人不可能“只怀一点孕”，但怀孕的界限不再那么分明。在费城儿童医院，科学家们创造了一种人造子宫，用它成功孕育了“超早产”羔羊长达四周，足以让它们准备好迎接这个世界。研究的目标是推进这项技术，直到它可以应用于非常早产的人类婴儿。目前，我们把早产儿放在新生儿重症监护病房，这对婴儿及其家庭来说压力极大，我们为了支持他们而采取的措施往往会造成严重的伤害。如果这项技术成功，人造子宫可能是一项非常棒的技术。其影响是显著的。人类是否会变得有点像有袋动物？现在，要么出生，要么不出生。这项技术是否会创造一个新的中间阶段？这在伦理和法律上意味着什么？
